1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a video signal processing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a video signal processing apparatus in which a display can be instantly turned on and a video signal watched on the display and recorded in a computer, as well as to a computer system integrated with the video signal processing apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, owing to the rapid prevalence of liquid crystal displays and liquid crystal televisions, the technology for converting a television signal into a liquid crystal signal is also developing quickly. Use of liquid crystal televisions is an important trend for the future. Further, the increasing calculation speed of a computer and the larger storage capacity of storage media are helpful to store a large amount of video data. Watching a television signal on a stand-alone liquid crystal display or recording a television signal on a hard disk of a computer is in desperate need.
Conventionally, adding a television tuner card to a computer can achieve the objective of watching a television signal on the computer display, but a user has to start an operation system or a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of the computer when using the method mentioned above. Thus, the method cannot achieve the objective of instantly turning on the display and watching the television signal. It is relatively time-consuming and the CPU resources of the computer may be largely occupied. It is also a waste of power and harmful to the environmental.
Conventionally, there are two methods to achieve the objective of instantly turning on the display and watching the television signal. One is using a liquid crystal television (LCD TV) and the other is using an external-enclosure TV Box. Both methods can achieve the objective of instantly turning on the display and watching the television signal. However, the disadvantage of both methods is that the apparatus cannot be connected to a computer, so that the television signal cannot be recorded.
There are two objectives to be considered. One objective is to be able to turn on the display instantly and to watch the television signal. The other objective is to record the television signal while watching it. A conventional method for achieving both is provided in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating conventional television signal processing. A broadcasting signal, such as a television signal, is received by the tuner 104 in the computer 102. The broadcasting signal is processed by the video decoder 106 in the computer and then recorded in a storage media 108, such as a hard disk. Thus, the objective of recording the video signal can be achieved.
In FIG. 1, the broadcasting signal 110 is received by the tuner 105 of the TV Box 126. The broadcasting signal 110 is processed by the video decoder 107, and then transmitted to the display 118 via the display signal converter 114. Thus, the objective of turning on the display instantly and watching the television signal is achieved.
As shown in FIG. 1, both objectives mentioned above are achieved, but two tuners, 104 and 105, and two video decoders, 106 and 107, are used. The conventional method mentioned above is thus expensive, wastes space, and is inconvenient.